Dry is the first thing I thought of when I entered the Utah environment. My eyes, my skin, my lips... I even felt like I had cotton mouth. Still, it was nice to be able to come home.
Our travel home really started at 9pm 7/20/11 (I'll be using Utah time for this blog) when we headed out to the airport via taxi. Cat and I slept the whole ride and before we knew it, we arrived. We checked a total of 4 bags in, weighing at the brink of busting open. We were glad no one charged us for being over the weight limit with our check-ins. As for carry on, we had 2 backpacks, 2 purses, and a roll-on that weighed the same as one of the humongous check-ins.
Security was fun- in Taipei, Cat forgot to move her scissors into her check-in. Oops- confiscated.
The flight to Shanghai/Pudong, China was a mere 2 hrs, but we didn't realize their protocol was to enter in the country with your luggage and re-check in everything. What a tedious process. We entered China without Visas (that was a hassle to explain that we only wanted to connect our flight) then exited just as slow. Security took my two amazing lighters I was going to give Bryan and Lucas (for Bryan, it was a gun lighter that shoots bright red fire with a laser and for Lucas, a "Zippo" lighter that looked like a royal flush when you click it open- also, it lit green fire). Apparently, you can't take any lighters on a plane, whether it's checked in or not. Stupid rules.
After waiting 4 hrs, we hopped on our United flight (yes, judgment right there already) across the Pacific. Yes, there was no leg room. Yes, the seats were more narrow than others. And YES, there was a whiny little girl sitting behind us who kept crying and/or puking. Worst. Flight. Ever.
LAX customs was routine- once again, grabbed our bags, filed customs, went through checks, yada yada... then headed up to our connecting flight to SLC! Security- Cat got her bag searched through, and we totally forgot how anal Americans are with security where you have to pretty much strip to your epiderm in order for them to check (yet, you may still be hiding something up your bum... who knows?). We grabbed some American food at this Roadhouse Diner at our terminal.... damn, these portions are HUGE. Neither one of us could finish our meal.
Our SLC flight was delayed due to the plane running late, so we boarded 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time. In the hot dog plane, we slept as much as we could in the ity-bity seats (my neck is sore from leaning) and arrived in SLC safe and sound.
Upon arrival, our welcoming crew consisted of Mom, Dad, Brian and Danny. Danny was so sweet and bought us flowers, which made coming back extra special. We chatted all the way back and I unpacked everything ASAP because I know if I put it off, I'll never get to it. :P
It was weird yet nice sleeping in my own bed. On one end, the bed was way too soft, but it felt nice. I thought 100x about why I wasn't calling Bryan to say goodnight or why he didn't come to the airport to see me. I guess I'm just not over the whole "needing space" thing...
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